Old and new ramen “by-players”! Extra-thick board, square shaped… The evolution of “menma” never stops!

While “Naruto” is fading from the tip ramen… the reason for the “Menma Craftsman Award”.

We have seen the metamorphosis of menma into boards, sleepers, sticks, and fine rips. Behind it all lies the skill and ambition of craftsmen who sincerely pursue their ingredients and strive to perfect their ramen… Akihiko Yoshino, chairman of Takeman Corporation, the organizer of the Menma Craftsman Award, spoke passionately about his thoughts on the Menma Craftsman Award.

This award spotlights the menma cooking technique, which has not received much attention in the ramen industry. We have been involved in the production and development of domestically produced menma in Itoshima City, Fukuoka Prefecture. By focusing on menma, we aim to improve cooking techniques and create a world where menma ramen becomes more delicious.

Menma has evolved in a variety of ways, but its roots can be traced back to ingredients in Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine. Originally, menma was made by lacto-fermenting the matsutake mushrooms that grow in Fujian Province in southern China and in Taiwan.

Ninety-nine percent of bamboo shoots distributed in Japan are from overseas. In Japan, it is said that since it became a common ingredient in ramen noodles, it came to be called ‘menma,’ which means ‘bamboo shoots on noodles,'” says Yoshino.

In mainland China and Taiwan, machiku is rarely served on noodles, and is mostly used as a boiled or stir-fried dish. In Japan as well, it is only found on the menus of Chinese restaurants other than ramen stores, and it is not an ingredient that has penetrated the dining table to that extent. How did it come to adorn a bowl of ramen as a famous ingredient? –The answer is not really clear-cut.

There is a theory that Chinese soba originated in 1919 at Asakusa Rairaiken, which was founded in 1910 and is said to have created the first ramen boom in Japan, and another theory that Chinese soba originated in Yokohama, where it was served in Nankinmachi (present-day Chinatown) in Yokohama during the 1890s. There are various theories as to the origin of “as a ramen ingredient,” including the theory that it was imported in large quantities from Taiwan by a trader in Kobe in 1937 and then spread to other parts of Japan.

In any case, it is certain that it was extremely difficult to purchase fresh ingredients for Chinese cuisine during the Meiji-Taisho period (1868-1912), when logistics were not yet well developed. On the other hand, dried bamboo shoots could be preserved and easily imported from China and Taiwan. Compared to dried abalone and scallops, menma was also inexpensive. It was probably an easy-to-use ingredient for craftspeople in the early days of ramen.

Nowadays, post ramen noodles with a crunchy texture, such as eringi mushrooms, yama-kurage, and kikurage mushrooms, are being introduced one after another. The days of using menma because it is “easy to procure” or “easy to store and handle” are gone. However, as the gems introduced here show, menma has not stopped evolving thanks to the diligence and efforts of craftspeople.

As Menma says, “Delicious ramen is the result of careful handling of each ingredient and concentration of nerves in every step of the process. If you focus on the menma, the ramen will taste even better,” says Yoshino.

While the naruto that decorated bowls of ramen in its pioneering days is disappearing from cutting-edge ramen, there is still room for innovation in this old and new bipartisan ingredient. Now is the time to pay attention to menma.